The Citizens And Remote Sensing Observational Network (CARSON) Guide: Merging NASA Remote-Sensing Data with Local Environmental Awareness

"Citizen science" generally refers to observational research and data collection conducted by non- professionals, commonly as volunteers. In the environmental science field, citizen scientists may be involved with local and regional issues such as bird and wildlife populations, weather, urban sprawl, natural hazards, wetlands, lakes and rivers, estuaries, and a spectrum of public health concerns. Some citizen scientists may be primarily motivated by the intellectual challenge of scientific observations. Citizen scientists may now examine and utilize remote-sensing data related to their particular topics of interest with the easy-to-use NASA Web-based tools Giovanni and NEO, which allow exploration and investigation of a wide variety of Earth remote-sensing data sets. The CARSON (Citizens And Remote Sensing Observational Network) Guide will be an online resource consisting of chapters each demonstrating how to utilize Giovanni and NEO to access and analyze specific remote-sensing data. Integrated in each chapter will be descriptions of methods that citizen scientists can employ to collect, monitor, analyze, and share data related to the chapter topic which pertain to environmental and ecological conditions in their local region.

A workshop held in August 2008 initiated the development of prototype chapters on water quality, air quality, and precipitation. These will be the initial chapters in the first release of the CARSON Guide, which will be used in a pilot project at the Maryland Science Center in spring 2009. The goal of the CARSON Guide is to augment and enhance citizen scientist environmental research with NASA satellite data by creating a participatory network consisting of motivated individuals, environmental groups and organizations, and science-focused institutions such as museums and nature centers. Members of the network could potentially interact with government programs, academic research projects, and not-for-profit organizations focused on environmental issues.